I was just wondering if anyone "labeled" items in your home for your pre-readers to "read". My dd is only 3 1/2, but I'm wondering if it would be helpful for her to see the names of things in written form.

I have considered doing the same thing. I think it is a good idea...helps with realizing that everything has a word to represent it. One of the good things I picked up from my education as an educator! I just have to get down to business and do it. My DD is 3 1/2 also.

I have used this option and it really helps with lots of concepts. It associates the word with the object and helps the child to understand that a word is the name of that object. Children find the concept of "word" quite difficult.
After a few words are placed on objects I talk about long words and short words and then introduce letters.I tell them that long words have lots of letters and short words have less letters. I tell the child that long words make a long noise and short words make a short noise and all of this informal instruction helps with sounding later on.
Ann Foster
Australia

I've heard of people who write interesting sayings all over the walls of their house. Requires repainting later, but you'll probably have to do that anyway if you want to sell.

In Cheaper on the Dozen (all true stories of the Gilbreth family), the dad actually wrote messages on the wall in Morse code, some of which translated to odd jokes or sayings, a few as clues to the location of a prize. All his kids learned Morse Code in no time

I just wanted to add that we label alot of things in our house, it actually started off as a way for Daddy to help with cleanup since I have unofficial OCD(not really) about tidyness when the day is done, but she (just barely3) has learned the simple regonition of "doll" "house" and "Food"

Using cards to read through context is an excellent way to get kids to place words in their proper context.

If you're just starting, choose 6 easy to recognize objects around the house like the door, bed, lamp, etc. and place cards with these words written on them in caps on the object.
Keep them for a week.
Point out the cards and read the words out aloud to help her identify the objects.
At the end of the week, remove all the cards, write down the names on a sheet of paper, and ask your child to match the cards with the word on the sheet.

You can increase the difficulty of the words as she goes along.

Something like this can also be used to teach kids a new language if they're ready for it, or if you want to introduce them to a new one.